Insight into CO2 Emissions

Harshil Purohit , IIT Gandhinagar, harshil.p@iitgn.ac.in

Mihir Chauhan , IIT Gandhinagar, mihir.hc@iitgn.ac.in

Divyanshu Meena , IIT Gandhinagar, divyanshu.m@iitgn.ac.in

Repo

CO2 Emissions Dataset

Carbon Dioxide has been a significant cause of pollution and the primary driver of global climate change. It is commonly acknowledged that to avoid the effects of climate change; the world must reduce emissions as soon as possible. But, how this responsibility is shared between regions, countries, and individuals is a question we need to look into.

The different metrics related to CO2 emissions, such as Net CO2 emissions, CO2 emissions per person, and CO2 emissions from various resources, each tell a different story. We also decided to look into the effects of economic policies and natural resource distribution on CO2 emissions.

Carbon dioxide emissions are measured in a million tonnes in all of the plots shown below. CO2 per unit of energy is measured in kilograms per kilowatt-hour. Carbon dioxide produced from specific sources such as coal, gas, cement, flaring, etc., is also measured in a million tonnes. CO2 per capita is measured in a million tonnes per person.

CO2 Emissions vs Time

Impact of COVID-19

The Covid-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis had an impact on global CO2. The global CO2 emissions declined by 5.8% in 2020. It went from 36702.503 million tonnes to 34807.259 million tonnes. It was almost 2000 million tonnes of CO2, and the largest ever decline followed the global pandemic crisis. This decline is the equivalent of removing all of the European Union's CO2 emissions. Though China was one of the very few countries where emissions increased. The United States and Europe had an apparent decline in CO2 emissions.

The 2009 economic crisis also had a similar impact on the global CO2 emission. It declined by almost 1.5% in 2009. Though the CO2 emissions quickly went up in 2010. There were around 500 million tonnes fewer emissions of CO2. We can see all major world events have impacted CO2 emissions, whether it is the end of the cold war or the end of the World War. We can spot different crisis effects on Global CO2 emissions.

Per capita CO2 emissions

The CO2 emission per capita is defined as the contribution in CO2 emission of an average citizen of each country. It is calculated by dividing the country’s total emissions by its population. In bellow visualization, we can see the differences in per capita emissions worldwide.

The world’s largest per capita emissions CO2 emitters are the major oil-producing countries, as these countries mostly have relatively low populations. However, these countries have relatively low total annual emissions. More populated countries with high per capita emissions have high total yearly emissions, such as the United States, Canada, and Australia. Most of the European countries have per capita emissions near the world average. Many countries in Africa, South Asia, and South America still have very low per capita CO2. The lowest per capita emission is detected in Sub-Saharan African countries.

Outsourcing CO2 Emissions

If we look at the plot of CO2 emissions vs. time for rich countries such as the United States or Europe, we notice that it has been decreasing steadily in the recent year. It looks like a good sign in the fight against global warming on a surface level. On the other hand, though, emissions in countries like China and India are increasing. This raises the question of whether that is this steady decline in rich countries and growth in developing countries related to each other.

The answer is yes, as ‘rich’ countries indeed are ‘outsourcing’ their climate pollution to the developing countries by shifting their factories overseas. In the plot, we can notice a sharp increase in CO2 emissions of China since the year 2000. But a significant portion of these CO2 emissions is due to making goods for exporting. In other middle-income countries, such as India, we notice a more gradual rise in emissions.

China's and other emerging economies' factories now emit more carbon pollution than the United States and Europe industries. But the per capita emissions in these economies are still below America and Europe. China and India regularly cite this gap in per capita emissions at climate talks to deflect the pressure to cut emissions.

Outsourcing has made it challenging to hold countries accountable for their emissions. We can look at China and India and blame them, but at the same time, the pollution is caused due to goods that are being produced there for American demand.

Country-Wise Pie Chart for CO2 Emission in 2019

CO2 Emission Breakup

Country-Wise CO2 Emission

China emits the highest amount of carbon dioxide, around 30 % of the global carbon dioxide emission followed by the US and India contributing 15 % and 7% respectively. Combined, these three countries account for over half the global emissions. Even though China is a huge contributor to carbon dioxide emissions, its per capita emissions stand at a modest 7.3 tonnes/person which is half of the US per capita emissions which stand at 15.9 tonnes/person per year.

The main sources of carbon emissions globally are coal, oil, and gas respectively. Emission due to the burning of coal is at a staggering 40%.

In India, as coal is the main source of power generation, the disparity is even higher. Emission from coal accounts for 64% followed by oil which stands at 25%. However, if we consider the US which is the highest oil producing country we get a very different distribution which is expected. Emissions due to oil account for 44% whereas gas and coal contribute to 32% and 21% emissions respectively.

CO2 Per Unit Energy

CO2 emissions per unit of energy are annual production-based emissions of CO2, measured in kilograms per kilowatt-hour of primary production. It shows the efficient use of CO2, low being the most efficient system. With the advancement in technology, the CO2 emissions per unit of energy have shown a significant decrease, as we can see in the below visualization. We can also say that more advanced countries like the United States, the UK, and other countries, had significantly fewer emissions per energy than the UAE, Qatar, and Iraq. With more technological ideas shared over the world, most countries could reduce their emissions per energy. In recent times, most countries have had emissions per unit of energy between 0.1 to 0.4. India and Chain have been around 0.25 emissions per unit of energy, whereas UAE reduced it to about 0.1.

CO2 Emissions and Economic Growth